Definitely find an AFM to swap. "Big backfires" can damage them.  

Best not to use starting fluid (diethyl ether) with fuel injected vehicles, that's old school stuff for carbureted cars.  It's extremely explosive, and hard on engines too.  It could possibly have exploded inside the AFM. 

Good luck!

Stuart

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of Jeff Lincoln
Sent: Wednesday, May 21, 2014 7:44 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: No Power Under Load - '85 1.9

​Thanks Tom and Karl - I will check that. I'm pretty sure it's plugged in securely but one never knows. I'll check that vacuum line to - I had a big back fire when I was firing her up so it's possible something came off that boot.

Thanks,

Jeff
'85 GL (Gertie)
'78 Bus (Melissa)